Pittsburgh's May Nelson Should Have Been City's 1st World Champ

Pittsburgh PA

20 February, 2021

12:13 PM

Description

By Thomas Leturgey Women's professional wrestling in the Steel City of 1910 was a rough-and-tumble world filled with matinee and evening matches for big purses and near-riots. And for a couple of years, Pittsburg's May Nelson (her rise came at a time in which Pittsburgh temporarily lost its "H") was in the middle of it all. There's also an argument that May Nelson should have been a Women's World Champion. Not much is truly known about this time in women's wrestling, especially why so many "non-title" matchups were scheduled. Fascinatingly, women's wrestling would for a time be banned in the city of Pittsburgh; however, the sport flourished on both the sports and vaudeville stages. Women's Wrestling In Pittsburgh, 1910 The exploits of heavyweight legend Frank Gotch were highly detailed in newspapers and other outlets, but aside from the likes of women's world wrestling champion Cora Livingston (who first won the title in 1906), little is detailed in media. Despite all that, "South Side Girl" May Nelson was reportedly the first to get a win over the woman who defined the sport until Mildred Burke hit the scene a quarter century later. May Nelson was given a decision over Livingston at the Harry Williams Academy of Music on March 18, 1910. According to the Pittsburg Daily Post, Livingston fouled her challenger three times and that was enough for Referee Charles Reinecke. The newspaper report indicated that the match drew a packed house. Wrestlingclassics.com reports that Livingston defeated Nelson on March 14 and 16, also at the Academy. [Featured, interestingly, on the same Pittsburg Daily Post sports page on March 19,1910 is a picture of some prospective and future Pittsburgh Pirates. Included in the front row is infielder Bill McKechnie who later became a Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and namesake for the team's Spring Training facility from 1962 to 2017.] In all of the match results with May Nelson found in print or online, Cora Livingston was her opponent. On September 7, 1910, the Pittsburgh Press previewed an event which was to be held at Harry Williams' Academy of Music, one of the region's busiest halls. The purse was reported to be $50 (or approximately $1,300 in 2021 money) for the South Side girl. It was reported the next day that some 2,000 fans nearly rioted over the match in which Livingston and Nelson punched, scratched and yanked each other's hair as tempers flared outside of the squared circle. Fans screamed for referee Archie Parker to stop the match in Nelson's favor. According to wrestlingclassic.com, as many as eight city of Pittsburgh police officers were involved in squelching the potential civil breakdown. On September 9, 1910 the Pittsburg Press publishes a picture of May Nelson. The photograph remains the only known image of the resident of the South Side. Even less is known about May's original address or age but it can only be guessed that Nelson would have been in her early-to-mid 20's. The next day, the Pittsburg Press noted that around 2,000 fans watched Nelson defeat Livingston again at the Academy. At the 11:30 mark, Nelson reportedly pinned the hereto unbeaten (in more than 300 matches) Livingston in a non-title match. Livingston remained busy and in-demand despite the loss. She was scheduled to wrestle two women—May Martin and Hazel Kennard each for $25 purses—on September 10. May Continues Into 1911 While the accomplished shooter most likely continued to wrestle in newspaper obscurity, Nelson once again beats Cora Livingston on April 23, 1911, albeit without a title change. In the April 26, 2011 Daily Post, Nelson is now described as "a clever and strong North Side girl". In a rematch the following day, and Livingston evened the score with a victory at the Academy. As a side-bar, on July 19, 1911, the United States Board on Geographic Names succumbed to constant complaints from the community and re-added the "H" to Pittsburgh after a 20-year spelling omission. Livingston returned Pittsburgh several times to wrestle Margaret Dunn, another "North Side Girl" who headlined matches at this time and actually defeated Livingston, like Nelson before here, on December 5, 1911. In a Daily Post article around this time, Dunn is credited as the "Canadian Champion." Olga Nelson? Were Olga Nelson and May Nelson the same wrestler? Your opinion is as good as any. [Photo Pittsburgh Press, July 31, 1911] Cora Livingston traveled the extensively during this part of her career, and spent a lot of time in Boston There she defended successfully against "Olga" Wilson on March 7 and 8 in Beantown. Not long after that, in a July 30, 1911 story borrowed by the Pittsburgh Press, Olga Nelson and Helen Ward are profiled about wrestling professionally in Massachusetts. In the only known pics of the two, Olga and May Nelson look very similar, and neither are prominently promoted as wrestling anywhere else. It is possible that they are the same woman, or they might be sisters. Reporting at the time was colorful, but oftentimes lacked extensive fact-checking. Noted female wrestling historian and expert Chris Bergstrom says that he has tried to determine if May and Olga were the same woman, but admits that facts are difficult to come by from 111 years ago. Three Years Later Fast-forward three years. In November 22, 1914's Daily Post, Livingston is set to arrive in Pittsburgh, this time at the Victoria Theater, to take on frequent foe Nelson. It's claimed in the article that Livingston is the only woman to have ever defeated Nelson. It's fun to note that Nelson had just returned home to the North Side from an extensive wrestling barn storm abroad. The Pittsburgh juggernaut defeated the American (Hazel Parker), British (Bessie Farrer) as well as unnamed French and Japanese athletes during the "around-the-world" vaudeville tour. The news reports of these matches are alternatively printed on the entertainment page (with other "performing arts") or sports sections. The paragraphs are often near burlesque reviews or boxing recaps. On onlineworldofwrestling.com, it is conveyed that Cora Livingston defeated May Nelson at the Folly Theatre, in Chicago, Illinois sometime in 1913 but isn't verified. [Cora Livingston, Pittsburgh Daily Post, September 27, 1908] [On a Pittsburgh-related side note, in 1913 Cora Livingston married Monaca-born wrestler-turned promoter Paul Bowser. Livingston reportedly assisted Bowser in running his Boston-based promotion to immense popularity. Bowser is a (posthumous) Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum Class of 2021 inductee.] On December 3, 1914 a "Return Bout" is advertised in the Pittsburgh Daily Post sports page. On December 1, Nelson met Livingston at the Victoria Theater, and the two were to meet again that night. According to wrestlingclassics.com, Livingston battled Olga Nelson on March 17, 1921; and Olga Nelson missed an event on February 16, 1922. And with that, the Nelson/Livingston saga just ends. The name "May Nelson" is just too familiar in those times, and genealogy results are just too vast, but May doesn't appear in results again. Cora Livingston married wrestler-turned-promoter Paul Bowser and retired as a 22-year champion. The actual championship title Livingston wore in 1910 and rarely defended against May Nelson, sold on eBay in 2004 for a reported $1,677.00. Decades later, Donna Christianello became a pioneer for women's wrestling, as did Donna's niece, Angie Minelli. It's nearly impossible to determine what ultimately happened to May Nelson, but for a while, the "Girl From The South Side" was a real Steel City Keister Kicker.